US vexed as DPRK claims new missiles

PYONGYANG/WASHINGTON－The Democratic People's Republic of Korea has declared projectiles launched this past week to be two "newly developed" tactical guided missiles. The claim, reported by the official Korean Central News Agency on Friday, propelled it to the top of new US President Joe Biden's foreign policy agenda.

The Academy of Defense Science conducted the launch on Thursday. It was "very successful just as it had been confidently predicted", according to the KCNA.

"The newly developed new-type tactical guided projectile is a weapon system whose warhead weight has been improved to be 2.5 tons with the use of the core technology of tactical guided projectile that was already developed," the report added.

Photos on the website of the country's main Rodong Sinmun newspaper showed a missile lifting off from a transport erector launcher amid bright flames.

The Republic of Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Thursday that the DPRK had fired two unidentified projectiles into the East Sea.

ROK President Moon Jae-in, who is pursuing better ties with the DPRK, called the missile test "concerning", saying Seoul, Pyongyang and Washington should not create hurdles for talks.

"I know very well our people have big worries about North Korea's (the DPRK's) missile launches yesterday," Moon said during a military ceremony.

"Now is time for South (the ROK) and North Korea and the United States to make efforts to (resume) talks. An act that hampers the dialogue mood is not desirable at all."

Some experts say Pyongyang aimed to apply pressure on the Biden administration to boost its leverage in future talks.

The KCNA announcement came after Biden on Thursday warned the DPRK not to escalate the situation while saying he is prepared to conduct diplomacy with Pyongyang.

In his first formal news conference since taking office, Biden said:"We are consulting with our allies and partners, and there will be responses if they choose to escalate. We will respond accordingly," he said.

"But I'm also prepared for some form of diplomacy, but it has to be conditioned upon the end result of denuclearization."

Top foreign policy issue

When asked if the DPRK ranked the top foreign policy issue for his administration, Biden replied:"Yes".

Senior US officials said on Wednesday that the DPRK fired two short-range ballistic missiles off its east coast. The launch followed Pyongyang's test of two short-range weapons on Sunday, which the Biden administration downplayed as normal military activity.

These tests came after the ROK and the United States conducted their annual springtime military exercises from March 8 to 18.

US officials said on Tuesday that the Biden administration is in the final stages of its policy review regarding the DPRK. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan will discuss the issue with his counterparts in Japan and the ROK next week.

The White House said this month that the Biden administration recently reached out to Pyongyang but had not yet received any response.

A top diplomat of the DPRK vowed that Pyongyang would ignore the US outreach until Washington "rolls back its hostile policy", the KCNA reported last week.

Xinhua - Agencies